GHG inventory submissions and review

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GHG inventory submissions and review process
under the UNFCCC
8th Joint UNECE TFEIP EIONET Meeting
Dublin, Ireland 23-24 October 2007
Astrid Olsson Reporting, Data and Analysis
Programme UNFCCC Secretariat aolsson_at_unfccc.int
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Overview

• Background
• Inventory submissions
• Data handling
• Review process
• Other inventory related activities
• Resources

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Background

• Requirement in the United Nations Framework
  Convention on Climate Change for all Parties to
  develop, periodically update, publish and make
  available to the COP national inventories on GHG
• The first COP (1995) decided that Annex I Parties
  shall submit a GHG inventory annually (on 15
  April)
• COP 5 (1999) decided that Annex I Parties GHG
  inventories shall be reviewed annually
• Kyoto Protocol inventory submissions and review
  process build on the Convention, supplementary
  information to be reported and reviewed

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Inventory submissions

• Submission due date 15 April Grace period of
  six weeks
• Submission should contain CRF tables for the
  whole time-series, NIR and XML-file
• Most Parties upload submissions on secretariats
  ftp-site
• Secretariat confirms receipt of submission with a
  list of what has been received, including
  acknowledgement file
• Contact with Parties with questions/problems
• Submission saved on common drive
• Submission made available on the web
• Daily update of submissions to review officers
  and database team
• Submissions tracked in the internal tracking
  system
• Same procedure for resubmissions

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Data handling I

• With Excel spreadsheet submissions an extremely
  resource intensive step in the submission/review
  process
• CRF Reporter software faster data
  processing
• Platform to handle submissions data totally
  changed in last two years more automated
  process, faster and less risk for human error
• Submissions imported in database
• Contact with Party if questions/problems

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Data handling II

• Preparation of data for products for the review
  process
• Initial checks
• Key category analysis
• SA I (tables)
• Outliers (statistical tool)
• SA II (identification of potential problems for
  individual Parties)
• Locator
• Data used for other secretariat publications

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Review process I

• Starts on 15 April each year with the initial
  check Status report
• Synthesis and assessment part I, ready 10 weeks
  after submission due date
• Synthesis and assessment part II, sent to Party 7
  weeks prior to review
• Individual reviews usually take place in
  September/October
• (Desk)
• Centralized
• In country
• Strict deadlines for publication of report for
  each stage deadlines differ between Convention
  and Kyoto Protocol
• Party can comment reports at all three stages

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Review process II

• Initial check
• Until 2007 manual process labor intensive (0.5
  day/Partycheck)
• From 2007 partly automated process (checking 1-2
  hrs/Party)
• Synthesis and assessment part I
• Automatic preparation of tables
• Manual checking and formatting of tables
• Will be less labor intensive with better data
  handling procedures

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Review process III

• Synthesis and assessment part II
• Partly automated (recalculations table, energy
  graph, headers)
• Review officer needs 2-2.5 days per Party
• Individual reviews
• Preparation
• Actual review 5-6 days long days
• Help, advise and push experts to finalize draft
  reports within established deadlines

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Review process IV

• Lot of work behind the scenes
• Prepare review teams (January)
• Prepare and send invitation approximately 130
  experts (April/May)
• Coordinate logistics with Parties for in-country
  reviews (venue, schedule, hotel, set up etc.)
• Prepare and send CDs with materials for review
  teams
• Communication with experts/Parties prior to and
  after actual review week

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Other inventory related activities I

• Review officers support other activities as well
• Development of in-house tools for review
• Development of CRF Reporter
• Preparation and conducting meeting of lead
  reviewers
• Training of new review experts (both Convention
  and Kyoto Protocol) Mandatory for new experts
  to pass training and exams
• Negotiations in the Subsidiary body for
  technological and scientific advice (SBSTA) and
  the Subsidiary body for implementation (SBI), COP
  and COP/MOP on issues related to GHG inventories
  and national communications

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Other inventory related activities II

• Review officers support other activities as well
• IPCC good practice guidance, IPCC good practice
  guidance for LULUCF and the 2006 IPCC guidelines
• IPCC Emission Factors Database (EFDB)
• Cooperation with other Conventions and Protocols
• Cooperation with international organization on
  data for reviews

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Resources I

• Inventory submissions
• One person ( 15 min/Party and submission)
• GHG database
• 1 team leader, 3 programme officers and 1
  assistant full time
• Development of CRF Reporter
• Development of in-house tools
• With current automation of procedures will be
  less in future

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Resources II

• Reviews (inventories, national communications)
• 1 manager, 7 programme officers full time, 5
  assistants part time
• Preparation of reviews
• Conducting reviews
• Support negotiations
• Other activities as required